Ellie Ander, Founder of Chicago North Shore Moms
Name: Ellie Ander
Founder: Chicago North Shore Moms
Who is Ellie Ander?
Ellie Ander is the co-founder, site curator, content creator and community connector for Chicago North Shore Moms (est. 2018), part of The Local Moms Network (est. 2016). Since 2010 Ellie has been helping local businesses, nonprofits and schools form meaningful connections to the Chicago area parent community through sponsorship and marketing opportunities, copywriting, graphic design support, social media marketing and email marketing. But most importantly, Ellie has been connecting like-minded businesses owners and decision makers with one another.
In less than three sentences tell us about your company and what you do.
Chicago North Shore Moms is a one-stop parenting resource website dedicated to giving moms the gift of time. I compile crowd-sourced, experienced-based and vetted local resource lists and guides, feature a robust calendar of local events, provide inspiring and uplifting mom, local business and local nonprofit features and connect like-minded people one another with the goal of fostering strong business relationships. I started this site in 2018 under the umbrella of a national network called The Local Moms Network.
In short, I help parents connect to their local resources, and I help businesses reach a rapidly growing network of moms on Chicago's North Shore!
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
Freedom in all realms of a career: As a FoundHer I'm in charge of my schedule, the projects I lean into and how much time and money I invest in my business.
How do you support other female founders and women in business?
I consider myself a local matchmaker with the goal to give those in my community valuable connections that can help one another foster growth!
At what point did you make your company a full time gig? How did you know the time was right?
I started CNSM in 2018. It became a full-time gig at the start of 2022. I knew it was the right time because I was seeing all aspects of my business increase from rfi's to contracts and, of course, more families moving to the North Shore. The time needed to keep organic resources flowing and contract obligations met, increased.
What lesson or skill did you take with you from a prior job to help you succeed in your role today?
My prior job was the Advertising Director of a parenting nonprofit in the city called NPN. I worked there on a part-time basis for 6.5 years before leaving and briefly becoming a SAHM. There, I gained access to a local business community, helped guide them ways in which they could successful leverage NPN to reach their target demographic, learned valuable techniquest to stay organized (a must) and started to dip my toes in social media.
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